Sonia Patel's Blog

Why am I grinning? Because my literary agent—my muse—told me I have a solid first draft, and it’s “incredible stuff.” And now I’m deep in the process of thinking and layering. This novel isn’t YA, it’s fiction for adults by an adult writing herself into existence.

On more than one occasion, I’ve had a Freudian slip—substituting my name with Gita’s— while discussing my novel with others. And although GITA isn’t a memoir, it’s based on some of my experiences, so the reader in the review below isn’t wrong in writing my name instead of the main character Gita’s. Thank you, dear reader, for this lovely review on the Barnes & Noble website.

Writing has been my therapy. I didn't have the language to conceptualize, explain, or process what was done to me until I began writing. Recently, I finished my first non-YA fiction. Whether or not it makes it into the world, I am freer.

All over again, I’m honored and grateful to have a short story in AB(solutely) NORMAL. And, the anthology editors Nora & Rocky shared that “the [Marist University] student government approached their administrators and asked specifically for a book about mental health. AB(solutely) NORMAL was then selected from a list of ten contenders, which had been whittled down from an even larger list.” Check out this link for more information on AB(solutely) NORMAL as the core common read: https://www.marist.edu/academics/core/common-reading.

A double honor as Gita is a Stanford freshman, and I’m a ‘95 Stanford grad!

The panel discussion is on Saturday, and I began this morning with a cup of coffee and reflection: Growing up, survivors of chronic childhood incest (covert and/or overt) lack the language to conceptualize or relate what was done to them because survival demands their brains/bodies disconnect from their reality. Brain/body development and connection is damaged and pain is manifested as symptoms of suffering. It would be unrealistic to depict young survivors in YA lit as “obviously feminist” or able to ask for help or have insight. To do is belittling and dismissive of the vast complexities of the incest survivor experience—including the familial and society enabling of it—and I refuse to be an enabler because I am a survivor. Therefore, it makes sense to me to introduce myself at the panel like this: I’m Sonia Patel, and I’m a practicing child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist. I’m the first person on both sides of my Gujarati-Indian family to be born in the USA, specifically New York. I was raised there, Connecticut, and the tiny island of Molokai, Hawaii, where my debut YA novel RANI PATEL IN FULL EFFECT is set. Rani’s story is my story, if I’d known what chronic covert and overt incest were while I was going through it—a completely different beast than circumscribed sexual assault in how fundamentally it damages brain development—and something that wasn’t, until RANI, depicted in YA literature in a way that I or many of the teens I treat could’ve related to or found comfort in. My latest YA novel, GITA DESAI IS NOT HERE TO SHUT UP, is my college story and is a brutally realistic depiction of some of long-term fallout of incest, such as the repetition of the sexual object role as a mute language of chronic incest, because the truth is most incest survivors lack the language to conceptualize or explain what was done to them in their youth and often cannot comprehend or verbalize about it until middle age. By giving language to the complexities of incest (the secrets, the gaslighting, the isolation, the denial, the enabling by other family members, and the patterns of negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors), I hope to offer young survivors the “aha moments” never offered to me: the possibility of understanding that what they’re enduring is abuse and the acknowledgement and validation of their painful experiences. As a survivor and a psychiatrist who treats survivors, I’m well aware that healing is impossible without the aforementioned. 

“January is Human Trafficking Prevention Month, a presidentially designated observance that raises awareness about human trafficking and empowers the public to take action to prevent and respond to it.” –Office on Trafficking in Persons (U.S. Dept of Health & Human Services)

The character Rasa was inspired by one of my patients who found healing after being trafficked, but then died from an autoimmune disease because her body did indeed keep score. If I ever had the chance to give her JAYA AND RASA, I hope that she’d find the messy, inconvenient, and sometimes unpalatable story to be a realistic reflection of part of her life.

National Human Trafficking Hotline 24/7 Confidential 1-888-373-7888

Check out this TOOLKIT ON TRAFFICKING PREVENTION from the Office on Trafficking in Persons.

“This author talk is not to be missed, dear teachers. You want to hear Dr. Sonia Patel talk about mental health in this letter to her teen patient. The letter is available for free in Just YA's online version at Open OkState here: https://open.library.okstate.edu/just... Also, the book is available anywhere books are sold: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/just... “

Thank you, Sarah, for including me here and in the JUST YA anthology. Follow Sarah!

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